“Magenta Orach”

Description from Dill: I'm growing a new green in my garden this year, magenta orach. (Okay, my auto-correct just changed that to "roach"… um, no, *not* what I'm growing!) Apparently it's related to quinoa and amaranth. Anyway, it's very tasty, but the coolest thing is its color. It's mostly green, but the baby leaves at the tips of each branch are a hot, hot magenta!

I love the colors and materials in this pick! We have a large garden but I don’t ever recall hearing about magenta orach. Did you get it from a local store or a seed catalog? I will definitely research as this sounds like something good!

Hi Judy – I get most of my seeds from two online stores, 1) Seeds Savers Exchange (which is a non-profit organization that sells and preserves heirloom seeds), and 2) Southern Exposure Seed Exchange (which also has cool things about it – worker-owned, lots of organic and heirloom seeds).

The amazing thing about the orach – I went away for two weeks, and when I came back, it was around 4 feet tall!!! If you harvest it often, it doesn’t get nearly that big. But it’s really tasty (kind of like mild spinach), grows well, is hardy, doesn’t bolt easily and tolerates heat well, and lasts a long time after you pick it. I’d say it’s a perfect green!

Mine doesn’t look like that, though. It’s green except for the new small leaves, and the magenta is much hotter and brighter than in this photo. I only end up picking the small leaves, anyway, since it’s growing so well. Let me know if you like it, if you end up giving it a try!!